Eurogamer 2010 Roundup

I went along to take in the show, give my trigger finger a workout and try to find the press area (there wasn’t one! Shock horror!) And here’s my pick of the titles strutting their stuff on the showfloor.

Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood

Ok. This is going to be badass.

Ubisoft bought their seminal stab-em-up to Eurogamer in true showboating style – with row after row of PS3 builds playing the series’ first multiplayer mode - and boy does it kick ass.

Playing like a slimmed-down version of Assassin’s Creed 2’s singleplayer campaign, the multiplayer sees the gamer taking on the role of an operative of the evil Templars, entering the world of renaissance Italy to train their assassination skills up to par.

The mode I played had you picking a character type (courtesan, doctor, priest etc), a set of skills - be it a speed boost, throwing knives or the ability to morph into a disguise - and then dumping you into a head-to-head session with other players.

The game assigns you a target – another human-controlled assassin – and assigns the player as someone else’s target. This leads to a somewhat frantic affair that sees the player trying to off the enemy in classic AC style, all while outrunning and evading the other assassins out for your blood.

It made for a brilliant multiplayer, and though it was a little rough around the edges, with a fair bit of screen tearing and some dodgy animations, I’d watch this one closely – it’s going to be big.

Crysis 2

I’m a big Crytek fan, and a bigger Crysis fan, so news of the shooter making a nanosuit-powered leap on to the Xbox is a big deal for me.

At the expo Crytek had the upcoming game’s multiplayer on show, and I was glad to see the powers of the nanosuit 2.0 being put to good use.

While I was a bit annoyed the developers chose to split the suit’s four settings (cloak, speed, armour and strength) into three grouped modes, putting together cloak and speed together for example, it actually worked quite well for the console controls, and graphically the game is looking good on the Xbox hardware.

Not so good, however, was the multiplayer itself, which played less like a shooter and more like Timesplitters, with nanosuit-wearing yobs hurtling all over the place, dodgy hit detection and far too much circle-strafing with the overpowered heavy machine gun.

Granted it’s still early days for the title, but I’d like to see a smartened interface, easier controls and, most importantly, better hit detection before the game’s release.

Even with the nanosuit, getting blasted in the face with a shotgun is enough to put a damper on your day. Fact.

Dead Space 2

Isaac’s back, and he’s more deadly than ever.

After the brilliant adventure of the first Dead Space, the return of the disgusting Necromorphs looks to be another tour-de-force, judging by the sheer brilliance of the ten minutes I played.

Set onboard a massive space station called ‘the Sprawl’, the game will see returning hero Isaac Clarke battling the Necromorph invasion once again, but this time, he’s ready -he’s got new battle suits, awesome weapons and a whole variety of new environments to explore – but death is still waiting at every turn.

In the time I played, I got beaten to death by mutant babies, crushed in a closing airlock door and had my head bitten off by a massive, thuggish brute of a monster.

All good fun.

The graphics were sharp, the gameplay as frantic and terrifying as ever, and the increasing variety of Necromorphs always keeps things fresh and interesting.

I just can’t wait to return to Isaac’s dark, dangerous world.

I also can’t wait to get my hands on that spear gun that pins necros to the wall, then electrocutes them…

Fallout: New Vegas

Yes, Fallout: New Vegas looks a heck of a lot like Fallout 3. Yes it uses the same interface and VATS system.

Yes it’s probably going to bring back memories of tramping your way around the Capital Wasteland, but rest assured, New Vegas is not more of the same - it’s more of the same, but way better.

I only had 15 minutes to explore the desert, but in that time I blew up three massive, mutated preying mantises with a machinegun/grenade launcher, got shot at by a roving band of psychotic prison escapees, got drunk and chatted up a barmaid.

Not bad for 15 minutes.

While the graphics and gameplay are very familiar indeed, it was nice to see that the nuclear bombs which had levelled the rest of the country had missed Vegas, so not only was there greenery, but the sky was blue too!

While I wanted to be blown away by some sort of new innovation New Vegas, while seemingly not raising the bar for the series, has more missions, enemies, guns and perks than ever before.

If you enjoyed Fallout 3 (and let’s face it, who didn’t) then you’re bound to love New Vegas – just don’t roll snake eyes

Gears of War 3

The Lancer’s back, Marcus is back and so are the rampant hordes of the Locust. Thankfully, with a whole glut of new COG soldiers at your side, casting them back into the hell that spawned them shouldn’t be too difficult, right?

Wrong.

Eurogamer served up a nice meaty lump of Gears 3 on the show floor, showcasing a new multiplayer mode called ‘Beast’. This fun little mode tasks four players with stepping into the boots of the Locust, fighting to kill the COG defenders within a certain time.

It’s sort of like playing Horde mode, but from the Locus side, and is a refreshing take on the familiar gameplay.

Accruing kills gives you tokens that allows you to unlock more advanced Locust drones, as playing as a Ticker gets old, fast.

As the levels rack up, named characters start appearing – and they’re just as deadly as their single-player cohorts.

While the graphics don’t seem to be massively improved (as they’re already pretty damn good), and the gameplay hasn’t really changed since the first Gears of War, Gears 3 is looking good.

Whether Epic will finally do any explanation of the series’ soap-style narrative remains to be seen.

Medal of Honour

The first time I saw Medal of Honour I wasn’t convinced it was anything but a cheap clone of Call of Duty.

I stand corrected.

EA bought their modern, Afghanistan-based shooter along in explosive form, setting up a good 20 screens to play LAN PS3 multiplayer.

It was, in a word, awesome.

The game, now nearing release, plays like all the best bits of Call of Duty and Battlefield rolled into one, with a healthy dose of realism thrown in for good measure.

The gameplay was fast-paced and intensive and teamwork – an aspect so often lost in games of Call of Duty – took centre stage, with teams of US Marines and “Insurgents” (EA not being silly enough to call them ‘the Taliban’) taking each other on in dirty desert villages and wind-swept valleys alike.

What really struck me was the incredible attention to detail in the graphics and sound. While the battle was raging, streams of smoke and airborne dirt blocked sight lines and caused havoc, with the misty forms of soldiers sprinting through the haze.

It looked incredible, and the screech of bullets and screaming soldiers made it all the more intense.

Sure it’s still a little bit of a Call of Duty rip-off, but once again I’m expecting Medal of Honour’s attention to detail and respect for the soldier to shine through – you won’t find any heartbeat sensors and silly massacring-civilians-in-an-airport levels here.

Fable 3

Peter Molyneux is a visionary guy, no doubt about it.

He’s also a little bit too enthusiastic.

We all remember the promises he made for Fable, then Fable 2 – the little comments that didn’t pan out into bankable gameplay – but, judging by the early build of Fable 3 I got my paws on, things are looking good for this latest return to the world of Albion.

Picking up with a boy or girl being bought up in the royal palace, the early game sees your character becoming an outcast from the royal family and being forced to beg, borrow, promise and steal your way back into the royal seat - with an army at your back.

Once you regain your seat of power you have to keep the populace in line, by force or popularity, and guide the land through the troubles ahead.

No small order then, really.

The gameplay will seem familiar to Fable fans, though the graphics have had a major overhaul (and hopefully so have the interminable loading times).

The voice acting is as top-notch as ever, with John Cleese’s sarcastic English butler Jasper putting on a particularly “good show”.

Fable 3 is shaping up nicely, and provided Mr M hasn’t blown it all out of proportion (again) it promises to be a streamlined, fun game with a deep storyline and the great free-flow combat of Fable 2.

Your dog is still alive and kicking too, which is always a bonus.

Ooh! Look! He’s found some treasure! Go get it boy!

There were a whole bunch of other titles on offer, but if I keep yakking on you might get bored and go watch something on youTube. So, I won’t keep you any longer.

Though this year’s Eurogamer felt like a bit of a sequel-fest, there’s still plenty of gaming goodness to look forward to in the coming months, so stay tuned to Game On for all the latest gaming gossip.